December 31
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THE SPIRIT’S FRUIT
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 Now those who belong to Christ Jesus crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live by the Spirit, let’s follow the Spirit as well. 26 Let’s not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another. – Galatians 5:22-26
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Enduringword.com commentary says: The works of the flesh seem overwhelming – both in us and around us. God is good enough and big enough to change everything with the fruit of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit can always conquer the works of the flesh. Significantly, it is the fruit of the Spirit set across from the works of the flesh. Works are works, and fruit is fruit. Fruit has several important characteristics. Fruit isn’t achieved by working, but is birthed by abiding. Fruit is fragile. Fruit reproduces itself. Fruit is attractive. Fruit nourishes.
Paul used the plural in describing life after the flesh (works of the flesh), but he uses the singular (fruit, not fruits, of the Spirit). In the big picture, the Spirit has one work to do in all of us. These aren’t the gifts of the Spirit, which are distributed on an individual basis by the will of the Spirit; this is something for every Christian. Morris comments that “It may be significant that the word fruit is singular; Paul is not speaking of a series of fruits that would be shared around, so that one believer has one another. Rather he is referring to a cluster, such that all the qualities are to be manifested in each believer.”
Luther says that it is fitting that love be the first mentioned, because it encompasses all of the following. It may even be said that the following eight terms are just describing what love in action looks like. “It would have been enough to mention only the single fruit of love, for love embraces all the fruits of the Spirit.” This is above and beyond natural affection, or the loyalty to blood or family. This is loving people who aren’t easy to love; loving people you don’t like.
Paul concluded this section of walking in the Spirit with this warning, knowing that some will become conceited in their own walk in the Spirit. This can be a masterful stroke of Satan. We can think of a child of God finally walking in the Spirit – then Satan tempts him to be conceited about it. Soon, he is sure that he is almost always right and everyone else is wrong. It often happens gradually, so Paul warned, “Do not become conceited.”
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REFLECTION
• How can a true believer guard his/her heart from becoming conceited?
Monthly Archives: December 2020
DEEDS OF THE FLESH ILMA’S VLOG
December 30
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DEEDS OF THE FLESH
19 Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: sexual immorality, impurity, indecent behavior, 20 idolatry, witchcraft, hostilities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, 21 envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. -Galatians 5:19-21
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According to a commentary Paul apologizes for having to make this list, because the works of the flesh are evident. Yet, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he knows it is important to be specific, because we must know specifically how we walk in the flesh. We can’t see the flesh, but we can see what it does. Some have sought to organize this list in four categories: sensual sins, religious sins, interpersonal sins, and social sins. We shouldn’t regard this as an exhaustive list, but it adequately gives the idea of what the person who walks in the flesh does.
Sexual immorality or adultery, impurity, indecent behavior are all sensual sins, relating to sex.
Idolatry and witchcraft are religious sins. They are sins of worship, and remind us that it isn’t only tragic to worship the wrong god, or seek the wrong spiritual power – it is sinful as well. Idolatry is the worship of any god except the LORD God revealed to us by the Bible and in the person of Jesus Christ.
Hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envies… murders: These are each “people” sins. They are sins that primarily express themselves in how we treat others. God cares about our sexual and moral purity, and He cares about the purity of our religion and worship. But He also passionately cares about how we treat one another. The fact that Paul uses more words to describe these interpersonal sins shows how important our treatment of each other is to God.
Drunkenness… revelries: These can be thought of as social sins – sins that are often committed in the company of other people. The fact that Paul includes these two sins in his list shows that they were works of the flesh that the Galatian Christians had to be on guard against. Romans 13:12-13 lists drunkenness and revelries as part of the Christians’ past of darkness that now need to be cast off as we walk in the light.
The bible gives us a guide to watch over these sins that shows that we are in flesh.
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REFLECTION
• What sins do you still struggle with from the list that Paul gave here?
WALK IN THE SPIRIT TO FIGHT THE FLESH ILMA’S VLOG
December 29
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WALK IN THE SPIRIT TO FIGHT THE FLESH
16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. 17 For the desire of the flesh is against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, in order to keep you from doing whatever you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law. -Galatians 5:16-18
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According to a commentary, simply put, if we walk in the Spirit (instead of trying to live by the law), we naturally shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Again, the fear of the legalist – that walking in the Spirit gives license to sin, and that only legalism can keep us holy – is just plain wrong. To walk in the Spirit first means that the Holy Spirit lives in you. Second, it means to be open and sensitive to the influence of the Holy Spirit. Third, it means to pattern your life after the influence of the Holy Spirit. We can tell if someone walks in the Spirit because they will look a lot like Jesus. Jesus told us that the mission of the Holy Spirit would be to promote and speak of Him (John 14:16-17, 14:26, 15:26, 16:13-15). When someone walks in the Spirit, they listen to what the Holy Spirit says as He guides us in the path and nature of Jesus. There is no way anyone can fulfill the lust of the flesh as they walk in the Spirit. The two simply don’t go together. The Holy Spirit doesn’t move in us to gratify our fallen desires and passions, but to teach us about Jesus and to guide us in the path of Jesus. This is the key to righteous living – walking in the Spirit, not living under the domination of the law. Walking in the Spirit is the key, but it doesn’t always come easily. Often, it is a battle. There is a battle going on inside the Christian, and the battle is between the flesh and the Spirit. As Paul writes, these are contrary to one another – they don’t get along at all. When the flesh is winning the inside battle, you do not do the things that you wish. You don’t live the way you want to; you live under the flesh instead of under the Spirit. When Paul uses the term flesh, he didn’t mean our flesh and blood bodies. Precisely speaking, our flesh isn’t even that fallen nature, the “old man” that we inherited from Adam, because the old man was crucified with Jesus, and is now dead and gone (Romans 6:6). Instead, as Paul uses it here, the flesh is the inner man that exists apart from the “old man” or the “new man,” and which is trained in rebellion by the old nature, the world, and the devil.
It is only by walking in the Spirit can we continue to live holy lives because by nature, we are sinful. Many Christians fail to see that this pure life comes only from the Holy Spirit.
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REFLECTION
• What can hinder a believer from walking in the Spirit?
LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF ILMA’S VLOG
December 28
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LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF
13 For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but serve one another through love. 14 For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, “YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.” 15 But if you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another. – Galatians 5:13-15
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In this letter to the Galatians, Paul reminds them of the danger of losing the freedom that Christ has already granted those who believed in Him. He stresses the importance of not abusing or using the freedom we were given for our exclusive use. It is for selfish reasons that the world wants us to use it for; but that isn’t the purpose of the freedom that Christ gave us.
In Matthew 22:36-40 it says 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And He said to him, “‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’ 38 This is the great and foremost commandment. 39 The second is like it, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’ 40 Upon these two commandments hang the whole Law and the Prophets.”
Paul echoes the same words said by Jesus in Matthew 22:36-40. The purpose of His death on the cross is for us to be able to get free from our selfish nature and love God first and foremost so we can love our neighbors in the same manner that we love ourselves. He cautions us in verse 15 in this letter that when you do things for purposes of devouring one another, we will be consumed by that conflict and desire to satisfy our own cravings.
In my experience, this command to love one another as ourselves is a very challenging command. It is hard to love others if we have no clue how to love ourselves, especially if we were never given true love. The world’s love is very different from God’s love. The world tells us to look after ourselves, but God’s love wants us to put Him above all things first and then love others as we love ourselves. If we have never received Christ, it is impossible to truly love ourselves just as God loves us. Our selfish nature will get in the way if we do not make God first. That is how God made the law. It is by loving Him first that we can only know how to love others and ourselves. So, if someone cannot love, that person probably do not know God because the bible says that God is love and it is only from Him that we can love ourselves and others as well, then we can have freedom.
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REFLECTION
• How is the concept of freedom corrupted by the world system?
WHO HINDERED YOU FROM OBEYING THE TRUTH?
December 27
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WHO HINDERED YOU FROM OBEYING THE TRUTH?
7 You were running well; who hindered you from obeying the truth? 8 This persuasion did not come from Him who calls you. 9 A little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough. 10 I have confidence in you in the Lord, that you will adopt no other view; but the one who is disturbing you will bear the punishment, whoever he is. 11 But as for me, brothers and sisters, if I still preach circumcision, why am I still persecuted? Then the stumbling block of the cross has been eliminated. 12 I wish that those who are troubling you would even emasculate themselves. -Galatians 5:7-12
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According to a commentary, Paul remembered their good start in the faith, but he also knows that it isn’t enough to start well. They were still in danger of falling from grace. Paul knew that the false teaching came from a person but it didn’t come from Jesus. At the root of it all, the Galatians were leaving Jesus to pursue the false and empty teachings of man, in this case legalism.
“Lightfoot on hindered” is a metaphor derived from military operations. The word signifies ‘to break up a road’… so as to render it impassable, and is therefore the opposite of… ‘to clear a way.’” The Galatians were doing well until someone broke up the road they ran on. Verse 9 is warning is driven home – the corrupting influence of legalism and other doctrines that diminish Jesus are like leaven in a lump of dough. A little bit will soon corrupt the whole lump. In the Jewish way of thinking, leaven almost always stood for evil influence. Paul is saying that the legalistic commitment they have right now may be small, but it is so dangerous that it can corrupt everything. In verse 10, Paul wanting to leave the confrontation on a positive note, Paul expressed his confidence in the Galatians (which was really a confidence in the Lord who is able to keep them). Yet, Paul was equally confident that judgment awaits those who lead them astray and away from Jesus (he who troubles you shall bear his judgment, whoever he is). Someone might accuse Paul of preaching circumcision because he asked Timothy to be circumcised (Acts 16:1-3).
Finally, Paul wished that those who demanded circumcision among the Gentiles would go all the way themselves, and amputate their genitalia altogether and not merely their foreskins. Paul also wished that these legalists would be cut off from the congregation of the Lord as required by Deuteronomy 23:1: He who is emasculated by crushing or mutilation shall not enter the assembly of the LORD.
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REFLECTION
• What and who hindered you from knowing and obeying the truth?
HEIR OF THE FREE WOMAN ILMA’S VLOG
December 25
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HEIR OF THE FREE WOMAN
27 For it is written:
“REJOICE, INFERTILE ONE, YOU WHO DO NOT GIVE BIRTH;
BREAK FORTH AND SHOUT, YOU WHO ARE NOT IN LABOR;
FOR THE CHILDREN OF THE DESOLATE ONE ARE MORE NUMEROUS
THAN THOSE OF THE ONE WHO HAS A HUSBAND.”
28 And you, brothers and sisters, like Isaac, are children of promise. 29 But as at that time the son who was born according to the flesh persecuted the one who was born according to the Spirit, so it is even now. 30 But what does the Scripture say?
“DRIVE OUT THE SLAVE WOMAN AND HER SON,
FOR THE SON OF THE SLAVE WOMAN SHALL NOT BE AN HEIR WITH THE SON OF THE FREE WOMAN.”
31 So then, brothers and sisters, we are not children of a slave woman, but of the free woman. -Galatians 4:27-31
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According to a commentary, Paul wanted it understood that he used pictures from the Old Testament. His reference to Hagar and Ishmael were pictures, meant to illustrate his point. Now he would bring in another picture. In the Bible, a covenant is a “contract” that sets the rules for our relationship with God. Paul brought it right down to the issues confronting the Galatian Christians. The legalists wanted them to relate to God under one set of rules, and Paul wanted them to relate to God under the “rules” presented by the gospel. Since it is all about what we must do for God to be accepted by Him, it doesn’t set us free. It puts us on a perpetual treadmill of having to prove ourselves and earn our way before God. This covenant is associated with Hagar, the “surrogate mother” who gave birth to Ishmael. It is therefore (if used wrongly) a covenant according to the flesh (Galatians 4:23).
It is a valid point that Paul presents in this letter to the Galatians. Those who associate themselves with the slave woman Hagar are not free and those who associate themselves with Sara, are free. What a great analogy by the great apostle Paul! Those who live under the law will always be bound by religion and those who live free lives are under the grace that comes from the freedom that Christ has already given to those who will believe Him.
As believers, we ought to be mindful that we are not following religion but the gospel that Christ has already died for us and the work of the flesh is finished by his sacrifice.
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REFLECTION
• How can we free ourselves from religion and its tendency to enslave us?
UNDER THE LAW OR UNDER GRACE ILMA’S VLOG
December 24
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UNDER THE LAW OR UNDER GRACE
21 Tell me, you who want to be under law, do you not listen to the Law? 22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and one by the free woman. 23 But the son by the slave woman was born according to the flesh, and the son by the free woman through the promise. 24 This is speaking allegorically, for these women are two covenants: one coming from Mount Sinai giving birth to children who are to be slaves; she is Hagar. 25 Now this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is enslaved with her children. 26 But the Jerusalem above is free; she is our mother. – Galatians 4:21-26
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According to a commentary, Paul writes directly, both to those who promoted legalism and to those who succumbed to legalism. He writes to those who desire to be under the law, living under law keeping as the basis for their relationship with God. There are many advantages to being under the law as your principle of relating to God. First, you always have the outward certainty of a list of rules to keep. Second, you can compliment yourself because you keep the rules better than others do. Finally, you can take the credit for your own salvation, because you earned it by keeping the list of rules. Under the law it is what you do for God that makes you right before Him. Under the grace of God, it is what God has done for us in Jesus Christ that makes us right before Him. Under the law the focus is on my performance. Under the grace of God, the focus is on who Jesus is and what He has done. Under the law we find fig leaves to cover our nakedness. Under the grace of God we receive the covering won through sacrifice that God provides. The legalists who troubled the Galatians protested that they were children of Abraham, and therefore blessed. Paul will admit they are children of Abraham, but they forget that Abraham had two sons. Abraham’s first son was named Ishmael. He was born not from his wife, but from his wife’s servant (the bondwoman), from a misguided surrogate mother scheme to “help God” when Abraham’s wife Sarah couldn’t become pregnant. It often doesn’t look like it, but legalism is living according to the flesh. It denies God’s promise and tries to make your own way to God through the law. This is living like a descendant of Abraham – but it is living like Ishmael. Our inner conflict of following the law and living under God’s grace dates back to Abraham’s time. We need to focus on the sacrifice that Jesus has already made on the cross to free us from the law.
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REFLECTION
• How can we deal with the warfare between the flesh and living under grace?
BRINGING TRUTH TO THE LOST AND BEWITCHED ILMA’S VLOG
December 23
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BRINGING TRUTH TO THE LOST AND BEWITCHED
12 I beg of you, brothers and sisters, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You have done me no wrong; 13 but you know that it was because of a bodily illness that I preached the gospel to you the first time; 14 and you did not despise that which was a trial to you in my bodily condition, nor express contempt, but you received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus Himself. 15 Where then is that sense of blessing you had? For I testify about you that, if possible, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me. 16 So have I become your enemy by telling you the truth? 17 They eagerly seek you, not in a commendable way, but they want to shut you out so that you will seek them. 18 But it is good always to be eagerly sought in a commendable way, and not only when I am present with you. 19 My children, with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you— 20 but I could wish to be present with you now and to change my tone of voice, for I am at a loss about you! – GALATIANS 4:12-20
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In this letter of Paul to the Galatians, he strongly confronts them about the issue of being bewitched by false teachers. According to Wikipedia, the epistle to the Galatians, often shortened to Galatians, is the ninth book of the New Testament. It is a letter from Paul the Apostle to a number of Early Christian communities in Galatia. Paul is principally concerned with the controversy surrounding gentile Christians and the Mosaic Law during the Apostolic Age. Paul argues that the gentile Galatians do not need to adhere to the tenets of the Mosaic Law, by contextualizing the role of the law in light of the revelation of Christ. The Epistle to the Galatians has exerted enormous influence on the history of Christianity, the development of Christian theology, and the study of the Apostle Paul. In these verses, we hear Paul confronting those who have been converted to believe in Jesus that they are no longer slaves of the Mosaic Law because they have now heard the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, who had already come to free them from the slavery of the law. He reminded them the time that he came to them when he was ill and how they blessed and welcomed him and the gospel he preached to them then. He felt lost that they are being bewitched by the truth that he has already testified to them when he first came to preach the gospel to them and why they would continue to be bewitched. He is confronting them not to go back to listening to the wrong gospel.
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REFLECTION
• Why is it important to pursue purity in adhering to the true gospel only?
BRINGING TRUTH TO THE LOST AND BEWITCHED ILMA’S VLOG
December 23
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BRINGING TRUTH TO THE LOST AND BEWITCHED
12 I beg of you, brothers and sisters, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You have done me no wrong; 13 but you know that it was because of a bodily illness that I preached the gospel to you the first time; 14 and you did not despise that which was a trial to you in my bodily condition, nor express contempt, but you received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus Himself. 15 Where then is that sense of blessing you had? For I testify about you that, if possible, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me. 16 So have I become your enemy by telling you the truth? 17 They eagerly seek you, not in a commendable way, but they want to shut you out so that you will seek them. 18 But it is good always to be eagerly sought in a commendable way, and not only when I am present with you. 19 My children, with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you— 20 but I could wish to be present with you now and to change my tone of voice, for I am at a loss about you! – GALATIANS 4:12-20
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In this letter of Paul to the Galatians, he strongly confronts them about the issue of being bewitched by false teachers. According to Wikipedia, the epistle to the Galatians, often shortened to Galatians, is the ninth book of the New Testament. It is a letter from Paul the Apostle to a number of Early Christian communities in Galatia. Paul is principally concerned with the controversy surrounding gentile Christians and the Mosaic Law during the Apostolic Age. Paul argues that the gentile Galatians do not need to adhere to the tenets of the Mosaic Law, by contextualizing the role of the law in light of the revelation of Christ. The Epistle to the Galatians has exerted enormous influence on the history of Christianity, the development of Christian theology, and the study of the Apostle Paul. In these verses, we hear Paul confronting those who have been converted to believe in Jesus that they are no longer slaves of the Mosaic Law because they have now heard the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, who had already come to free them from the slavery of the law. He reminded them the time that he came to them when he was ill and how they blessed and welcomed him and the gospel he preached to them then. He felt lost that they are being bewitched by the truth that he has already testified to them when he first came to preach the gospel to them and why they would continue to be bewitched. He is confronting them not to go back to listening to the wrong gospel.
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REFLECTION
• Why is it important to pursue purity in adhering to the true gospel only?
WHY ENSLAVE YOURSELF AGAIN?
December 22
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WHY ENSLAVE YOURSELF AGAIN?
However, at that time, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those which by nature are not gods. 9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles, to which you want to be enslaved all over again? 10 You meticulously observe days and months and seasons and years. 11 I fear for you, that perhaps I have labored over you in vain. – Galatians 4:8-11
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In this letter to the Galatians, Paul challenges them to examine what they were doing. In the earlier part of this letter, he explained the adoption process that took place when Christ sacrificed his life on the cross for all sinners to be free. From being slaves of sin, we are adopted into the kingdom of God and now we are heirs of God.
Paul continues to warn and rebuke them in verse 9 because he has already shared with them the gospel of Jesus’ act of redeeming them from their slavery. Jesus bought us back from the ownership of the world so we could be sons and daughters of God. He confronts their weakness to go back to the old ways of following the world systems.
According to a commentary the bondage is natural when we did not know God and when we served those things that are not gods. Yet now the Galatians have known God and yet placed themselves under bondage. This was what amazed Paul. In turning to legalism, the Galatians were not turning to a new error, but coming back to an old one – the idea of a works relationship with God. Wiersbe comments “One of the tragedies of legalism is that it gives the appearance of spiritual maturity when, in reality, it leads the believer back into a ‘second childhood’ of Christian experience.” Stott paraphrased the thought: “If you were a slave and are now a son, if you did not know God but have now come to know Him and to be known by Him, how can you turn back again to the old slavery? How can you allow yourself to be enslaved by the very elemental spirits from whom Jesus Christ has rescued you?” The false teachers among the Galatians demanded the observance of days and months and seasons and years and other such legalistic matters and acted as if this would lead them into a higher plane of spirituality. Yet all these weak and beggarly elements of legalism did was to bring them into bondage. Paul’s fear was that this attraction to legalism would mean that his work among the Galatians amounted to nothing and would end up being in vain.
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REFLECTION
• What brings back Christians into slavery when they have already been freed?